Tension in Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia Over Slogans on Jinnah, 'Intimidation' of Hindu Students

On Wednesday, an outfit took out a protest march near Jamia saying it was opposing the "intimidation" Hindu students were facing inside the campus.

Jamia Millia Islamia University. (File Photo: Getty Images)

New Delhi: The Jinnah controversy refuses to die down. From Aligarh Muslim University, it has now travelled to neighbouring Delhi.

On Tuesday, around 6pm, a group of students, claiming to be from Jamia Millia Islamia, took out a march to gate number 7 and allegedly raised slogans against Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, such as "Jinnah premi desh chhodo" (Jinnah lovers, leave the country), and "Hinduon ko darana band karo" (Stop scaring Hindus).

On Wednesday, an outfit took out a protest march near Jamia saying it was opposing the "intimidation" Hindu students were facing inside the campus.

"Radical organisations on campus were threatening Hindu students after incidents like Kathua rape and AMU controversy. Two students, who are Hindus, were beaten up inside the campus. We organised this march to fight that intimidation," said Rahul Tiwari, one of the organisers of the march.

"Such organisations are not just against Hindu students, but also against those who are not supporting their ideologies. This has been happening for four weeks now," Tiwari, who claims to be a student of the varsity, said.

Some students alleged that not all the protesters were from Jamia. “Most of them were outsiders. Exams are going on in the university, and their motive was to disrupt the ambience,” said a second-year masters student.

The JMI administration, on the other hand, has requested the Delhi Police to step up security near the university.

"Though there are no photographs of Jinnah or anything related to it, considering the history of the varsity, the group was intending to incite violence by raising such slogans," the university's media coordinator told PTI.

"We have asked the Delhi Police to beef up security near all access points of the university," it added.

The Delhi Police responded by saying it was "on high alert" and prepared to handle any untoward incident that might take place.

The AMU campus has been tense ever since members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Hindu Yuva Vahini entered the premises demanding that the portrait of Jinnah be removed from the students’ union hall. The police had to intervene which resulted in students being lathicharged on the campus.